History 111

Foundations of Greek and Roman History

Spring 2003

Please note: This syllabus is still somewhat incomplete. Some readings and other things need to be confirmed or detailed. It should, however, suffice for planning purposes. I will notify you (and delete this notice) when it is finalized. My apologies and thanks for your patience.

T Th 1.15-2.30

Seabury 9-17

Course Description

There were too many civilizations in the ancient world to be encompassed in one course; indeed, the Greek and Roman worlds, to which we are limiting ourselves in this one, may seem themselves too sprawling to be dealt with in one semester. But there are interconnections between the Greek and Roman worlds that help to justify studying them together. This course, which presupposes no knowledge at all of the ancient world, will lay a foundation for further study by providing an introduction to the politics, society, economy, and culture of Greece and Rome, in the context of historical change and continuity over time. We will read a wide variety of material, including ancient texts ("primary sources") and modern interpretative works. You will come out of the course not only with a basic familiarity with the events, social structure, and source materials for ancient Greece and Rome, but also with experience in reading and analyzing historical documents, evaluating scholarly works, and writing papers.

Assignments

Your responsibilities in this course are fivefold: (1) attend lectures; (2) do the reading; (3) participate in discussion; (4) write exams (one midterm and one final); (5) write a paper. Attendance at lectures is particularly important as we are not using a textbook in this course. In lectures I will typically give an overview and framework for the topic, impart new information, and show how to contextualize and interpret documents. This information will be useful to you in all other aspects of the course.

The reading must be done before discussion (typically, but not always, on Thursday; we’ll announce details for each reading). Students should come prepared to be called on. You should have thought about the questions (see below, "Questions to Think About") and have responses (bearing in mind, of course, that there are no final answers). 

There will be two essay exams: one midterm (March 6) and a final (May 8, 9 am).

Paper on readings. Writing a paper gives you an opportunity to think like an historian. Each student will write one (1) 4-6 page essay on the assigned reading in the course of the semester. You are required to produce a draft due on the first date given. The TAs for the course, Sarah Hamilton, Erin Lineham, and Jennifer Poppel, will review the draft and return it to you promptly with suggestions for revisions. The final version is due to me, accompanied by the original with the TA's comments, on the second date given. (More details about this process will be given and a sign-up sheet for the paper topics will circulate during the first class session.)

  Following is the list of assignments and due dates. Your TA assignment is indicated by the abbreviation following the block of names assigned to that TA: E = Erin Lineham; S = Sarah Hamilton; J = Jennifer Poppel. [G = Reger]

Bernard, Miller, B, Cortese (E), Patterson, Williams (S), Foss (J), Bowman (G)

Goldsmith, Karelitz, Torodash (E), Cunha, Moshier (E), Razzano (J), Miller, E (G)

Teaching Assistants

There are three teaching assistants for this course: Sarah Hamilton (x3265), Erin Linehan (x3265), and Jennifer Poppel (x). Each student will be assigned to a particular TA. That TA will read and comment on draft papers and be available to answer questions. They will have individual weekly “office hours” and will run review sessions jointly before each exam.

Books in the Mather Bookstore

M.L. West, Greek Lyric Poetry. Oxford University Press

Plutarch, Rise and Fall of Athens. Viking Press.

Sallust, Jugurthine War and Catiline. Viking Press.

Polybius, Rise of Rome. Penguin USA.

A.R. Birley, Garrison Life at Vindolanda. Tempus Pub Ltd.

Books on Reserve in the Library

Nicholas Cahill, Household and City Organization at Olynthus. New Haven 2002.

Dio Chrysostom, volume 4 of the Loeb edition

Lysias, Orations, Loeb edition

Vegetius, Epitome of Military Science, tr. N. P. Milner, 2^nd ed. (Liverpool 1996).

Aesop, Life

Jonathan P. Roth, The Logistics of the Roman Army at War (264 B.C. – A.D. 235) (Leiden 1999).

Schedule of Classes and Assignments

Jan 21 (T). Introduction

Jan 23 (Th). Periodization

Part I. Greece and Rome. Political History

Jan 28 (T). Bronze Age Greece

Jan 30 (Th). Geometric Greece

Feb 4 (T).  Archaic Greece

                Reading: West (tr.), Greek Lyric Poetry, pp.vii-xxiii; 3-4, 7-9, 13-14, 16-20, 21, 23-27, 31-35, 51-58, 74-83, 125-151, 160-161, 168-172.

Feb 6 (Th). Classical Greece

                Reading: Plutarch, The Rise and Fall of Athens: Lives of Solon (pp. 43-76), Pericles (pp. 165-206), and Lysander (pp. 287-352)

Feb 11 (T). Hellenistic World

                Reading: inscriptions (handout)

            Questions: I. For no. 5: 1. What are the rules Alexander imposes on the city of the Chians? 2. What do these regulations say about the character of Alexander's power? 3. What are the limitations on the poleis that Alexander is imposing? II. For no. 31: 1. What concessions is Antigonos making? 2. Why is he making them? 3. What implications do they have to the relationship between A and the polis? III. For no. 60: 1. What does Philip want larisa to do? 2. Why? 3. What does he threaten if they don't?

Feb 13 (Th).  Early Republic

Feb 18 (T). Middle Republic

                Polybius, Rise of Rome: Book VI (pp. 302-352)

            Questions: 1. What are the three types of government? 2. How does Polybius see the relationship, especially historically, among them? 3. Why is it important for Polybius to understand these three types of government to explain Roman success? 4. What role does Polybius see the Roman army as playing in explaining Roman expansion and success?

Feb 20 (Th).  Late Republic

                Reading: Sallust, The Conspiracy of Catiline (pp. 151-233).

            Questions: 1. Why does Sallust feel it necessary to give a quick history of Roman forms of government? 2. What is the aim of Catiline's conspiracy? 3. What role does wealth play in Sallust's explanation of the conspiracy? 4. What picture of women emerges from Sallust's account? 5. What picture of Roman political life in the mid first century BCE emerges from Sallust's account?

Feb 25 (T): Trinity Days: No class

Feb 27 (Th). Empire

                Reading: Dio Chrysostom, Discourse 40, “On Concord with the Apameans” (pp. 109-147 of the volume) (R) 

            Questions: 1. What is the issue that Dio is concerned with? 2. Why are public buildings so important? 3. What might it mean for Prusa to have a rivalry with its neighbor Apameia? 4. What do the repeated references to leisure and service say about the elite's concept of its role in a Greek city under the Roman empire?

Mar 4 (T). Late Antiquity

                Reading: Life of Pachomius, skim the whole but focus especially on pp. 3-33 (sections 1-26), 39-51 (sections 30-33), and 55-67 (sections 38-44) (R)

             Questions: 1. How does Pachomius come to his vocation as a monk? 2. What is the relationship between Pachmius' monastery and the surrounding villages? 3. What is the relationship between Pachomius and the church hierarchy? 4. What are the notions of the meaning of spirituality expressed in Pachomius' life and experiences? 5. What, if anything, is different about Late Antiquity from earlier periods we have studied, as suggested by Pachomius' Life?

Mar 6 (Th). EXAM

Part II. Topics in Greek and Roman History

Mar 11 (T). Warfare I

                Reading: Vegetius (R); Jonathan P. Roth, The Logistics of the Roman Army at War (264 B.C. – A.D. 235) (Leiden 1999), selections. [Book did not arrive in time]

                Questions: 1. What are the chief divisions of the Roman army? 2. How is the army organized for battle? 3. What does Vegetius have to say about logistics and support staff? 4. Why do you think Vegetius discussed the "ancient legion," given that he was writing in Late Antiquity?

Mar 13 (Th). Warfare II

Mar 18 and 20: Spring Break: No Classes

Mar 25 (T). Agriculture I

Mar 27 (Th). Agriculture II

                Reading: Cato the Elder, Chapters I-VII, pp. 3-21; X-XIII, pp. 23-29; XXIV-XXV, p. 43; XXXI, p. 47; XLIV-XLIX, pp. 63-67; LVI-LIX, pp. 71-73; LXI, pp. 73-75; LXIV-LXIX, pp. 75-79; CV-CXV, pp. 99-107; CXXXII, p. 113; CXXXIV, p. 115; CXXXVI-CXXXVII, p. 119; CXLII-CL, pp. 123-137. (R)

Questions: 1. What kind of farm is Cato talking about? What crops are raised? 2. What role do religious practices have in Cato's advice? 3. What is Cato's labor force? 4. Who is Cato's audience?

Apr 1 (T). Women I

Apr 3 (Th). Women II

                Reading: Lysias, “On the  Murder of Eratosthenes” (R)

Questions: 1. What is the issue in the speech? 2. How does the defendant argue his innocence? 3. What role does the layout and format of the house play? 4. Where on the social scale would you locate the defendant? 5. What does this speech imply about the status of women in fourth-century Athens?

Apr 8 (T). Slavery I

Apr 10 (Th). Slavery II

                Reading: “Life of Aesop” (R)

Questions: 1. What is the nature of Aesop's relationship with his master? 2. What techniques does Aesop use to have some control over his life? 3. What does this text have to say about slavery in ancient Greece and Rome?

Part III. Two Small Places

Olynthos

                Reading: Cahill, pp. 1-22 and 194-222 (R)

Questions: 1. What are our chief sources for information about Greek city planning? 2. What are the main features of city-planning? 3. What kinds of houses do we find at Olynthos? 4. What is Cahill's argument about who designed the houses, and what is his evidence? 5. What relationship does Cahill argue for between city-planning and democracy? 6. Is Olynthos a typical small city?

Apr 15 (T).

Apr 17 (Th).

2. Vindolanda

Reading: None; the Birley volume did not arrive in time.

Apr 22 (T).

Apr 24 (Th).

Apr 29 (T). Conclusions.

Final Exam: May 8, 9-11 am